Flood damage will keep Crater High closed today

Wednesday

Feb 13, 2013 at 12:01 AMFeb 13, 2013 at 2:35 AM

Crater High School in Central Point will remain closed at least through today after a broken water main over the weekend caused extensive flood damage in the Crater Renaissance Academy, one of the campus's three small schools.

By Teresa Ristow

Crater High School in Central Point will remain closed at least through today after a broken water main over the weekend caused extensive flood damage in the Crater Renaissance Academy, one of the campus's three small schools.

District administrators said that when classes resume, Renaissance Academy students will be moved to the library, student center or gym, where they may remain for several weeks.

The campus' other small schools — the Crater School of Business, Innovation and Science and the Crater Academy of Health and Public Services — were relatively undamaged by the flood, Superintendent Randy Gravon said.

Gravon said a water line at the school, which was built in 1954, burst sometime between Sunday night and Monday morning, causing 2 to 3 inches of water to pool up in the Renaissance Academy wing of the school, which was once the campus' gym 40 years ago.

The floor in the lower level classrooms has several layers, including the old gym floor covered in plywood and topped with linoleum, Gravon said.

"The water has saturated down through, and we're going to have to tear all these layers out," Gravon said.

Repairs to the flooring to prevent mold will take weeks to finish, and students from Renaissance Academy will have to attend classes in other areas of the school, Gravon said.

"They're not going to be in their classrooms in the near future," he said.

Electricity and water to the campus was turned back on Tuesday, and a temporary boiler for heat is scheduled to arrive at 6 p.m.

Dehumidifiers and fans were brought to the school to air out the areas where flooding occurred.

Gravon said he expected classes to resume for all students Thursday morning.